Quick story: before I had my license, shortly after I traded a neighbor a non-running 1979 Cutlass for a kind-of running 1977 Chevrolet Impala coupe, there was a real risk that I was about to become the owner of a baby-blue Mazda GLC hatchback as my first “driver” car. At the time, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with any four-cylinder hatchback, no matter the make, and luckily for me a family friend needed an economy car. There was no endearing quality to the car for me…the Impala wasn’t pretty or fast either, but the overall shape was decent and I had more than enough room inside for anything my teenage brain could conceive.
Nearly twenty years later, and for the most part, I still view these early Mazdas as throwaway cars. Then I see this: it’s a Familia-based car (in Australia, it was the 323) and calling it angry doesn’t do it justice. The headlights look like crazy eyes, especially once the boost comes on the Nissan-sourced RB30 inline-six and the tires rise up in the burnout. You ever see a little guy who is ready to fight and looks like he’s gonna whip everyone involved without question? Yeah…that’s what we are seeing here. We love these tiny cars stuffed to the brim with engine and boost…they are sketchy and brutal.
Mock the GLC if you want. My first car was a 81 GLC. I took that thing all over the country and it was quite nearly unbreakable. It did what I needed it to. By now I expect they’ve all returned to the earth, but I’ve thought one might be fun with a 4.3L V6 and a 4L60E in it- just because it would be so odd you’d never see another one.